Tutoring Triumphs (and Failures)

I sit here in a computer lab with the kids working on a reading program. They think it is boring, but it is helping them with their comprehension and reading skills. We only have two weeks before the dreaded End-of-Grade testing starts! It doesn’t seem possible for the time to be so near.

It is unbelievable how tensed these kids are already! They are taking the tests for the first time ever and they have a lot of apprehension about how everything will work. I have done my best to let them know it will be alright, but nothing I say seems to calm their fears.

Some have said that I am to easy on the kids and that I should just let them worry about it, but I am not that kind of person. I want them to know that someone still cares about how they are feeling. I know they will be able to do it, I just need ways to help them believe they can do it!!

Have you ever had a student that always seemed to get on your last nerve? I am writing here today because I have one such student who has pushed the limit today. I thought it was much better to write here than to say something to him that I shouldn’t.

It isn’t that he is a “bad kid” or anything, he just doesn’t want to listen or pay attention. I know, I know, his ADHD has a little to do with it, but I swear the boy plays stupid just to get out of doing any work. I really wish I knew how to reach his sensibility!! He tells me he knows he is stupid and I told him that he is no where near stupid (if he was stupid, he wouldn’t know so many ways to get out of work)!

If anyone has suggestions as to what I could do to reach him, I would LOVE to know! I have tried being firm, sitting right next to him, writing notes home, referrals to the principal, and face-to-face talks with a parent. I have run out of ideas!

It is hard to believe there is only 32 school days left in this year! When someone told me that today, I was shocked. The third graders I am working with are no where near ready for the EOG’s!!! I can honestly say that I wish I had a magic wand to use for some of them.

What frustrates me is the fact some of them really don’t care if they don not pass the tests. No matter how many times I tell them they may have to stay in third grade another year, they just shrug and say, “oh, well.”

What can I do? If anyone has any ideas, I would love to hear them!! These kids are great kids, but they have learned how to manipulate others and they really know how to use avoidance techniques to get out of work, which is not a good thing to do just before testing time!

At least I know I will get a little more in the paycheck at the end of the year because I will be working with some of them during summer school!

I am a little late, but I did not get the call I was hoping for. I guess I am needed more at the school I am presently working in! Some people think I should be upset that I was passed over for the job, but I am happy with my third graders right now. The way I see it, I am saving a fortune in gas because that job was in a town about 40 miles away!

I have also realized I am going to have to change the title of my blog because I really am not a guest teacher anymore. With the 20 hours a week I spend tutoring my third graders, I do not have much time to guest teach. The teacher I am working with now told me today that she would like me to team teach with her while I am in the room! I am so excited!! I know it doesn’t seem like much, but I think it is awesome and I will learn a wealth of knowledge from this woman.

Along with the tutoring, I have helped out with some of the Academically Gifted projects at the school. We went to a Science Olympiad competition last Saturday and it was a BLAST! That was the day I received the “We thank you for applying, but we gave the job to someone else” letter. My mother read it to me over the phone and even though I was somewhat disappointed, I realized it was a good thing. It was kind of funny because one of the other teachers on the trip said that she and another teacher had already decided they were not going to let me take another job because they wanted me at their school. Gotta Love ‘Em!!

Trying to think of a new name for the blog as I type, but haven’t thought of anything yet. Hopefully, I will have it changed by the next time I blog!

I know it has been a while since I mentioned the “garden” but I have started noticing that buds are staring to break through the soil! Many of my third grade tutorees are beginning to get used to seeing me in the classroom everyday. It is a joy to see some of them blossoming before my eyes!!

I may have to give this garden up to someone else. I got a call for a job interview tonight, so I have a chance at my dream job!! The interview is at a small rural middle school and my stomach is a bundle of nerves. If I do well in the interview, I may get the opportunity to fertilize ans grow a garden planted by someone else.

I promise I will make another post when I get a phone call informing me of whether or not I got the “Gardener” position in that particular seventh grade.

I have gotten behind in the Teacher Challenge http://teacherchallenge.edublogs.org/ so I thought I would try to get caught up. Hopefully, this weekend will be good to me and I will be able to catch up completely so I won’t feel guilty for being behind with my blogging.

This challenge has been fun and very informational. Writing this blog has helped me release some frustrations as well as giving me ideas about what to do next. One of these days, I will have my own classroom and not just a guest teacher! I am looking forward to being able to change the name of the blog when that happens!

I guess I will go ahead and add another aspect to this post in order to complete another step in the challenge. I have often wondered what books people would recommend to young people, so I have embedded an AnswerGarden.

What book or book series would you recommend to a young adult?… at AnswerGarden.ch.

I just realized I had not blogged in almost a week!  I guess I will have to write about my new experience as a tutor for the third grade. After getting adjusted to the smaller size of seed (I had been in seventh and eighth grade), I realized I could learn to enjoy this age range.

It is going to take a little time to get used to covering math as well as language arts, but I think I can have some fun with it! At least I know I have the ability to do math at this level, where as I know there is not possible way I could be of any assistance to the middle-schoolers in math!

I told some of the third graders I would bring in some math games every now and then……you should have seen the surprise on their faces! I guess they don’t realize that learning can be fun.

I hope these students will enjoy having me as a tutor because I have already had an enjoyable time with them. I also hope that what I teach them will aid them in earning a higher score on the end-of-grade tests this year.

Here it is, nearly 11:00 pm and it is snowing again! The superintendent of schools has called a two hour delay for tomorrow, but the way it is snowing now, I am sure we will get a phone call around six in the morning telling us school has been cancelled once again!

How am I supposed to plant a garden when we cannot even get into the schoolhouse doors? This kind of weather helps make a case for online learning! If only our county had online classes like some other schools do……then we would at least be able to teach a bit.

I am making this one short for this evening, but will be back tomorrow to write more and give an update!

If anyone is interested in looking at the kind of weather we are getting here in the mountains of North Carolina, you can visit a local weather site located at http://www.spartaweather.com/

This site is as local as we can get because this gentleman has a weather station at the local elementary school.

This is my first attempt at blogging, but I have enough faith that the flowers will bloom as I nourish and tend the “seeds”.

First, let me introduce myself. I am Shelley Williams and I am a guest teacher in a small community in North Carolina, USA. I have enjoyed going into other teachers’ “gardens” for the last six years, but I hope to have my own permanent garden in the near future.

Now, some of you may wonder what the term “guest teacher” really means. This term is actually the same as a substitute teacher, but it sounds a bit more friendly. I like to use the term for myself because  the term “substitute” has a negative connotation for many people. I am a licensed teacher who enjoys going into other gardens to help tend the seeds of knowledge which are growing behind the garden gates.

There are many reasons I enjoy being a guest teacher:

• No lesson plans to create
• I have the opportunity to meet many different “sprouts”
• I can enjoy the beauty behind the “gates” of many gardens

The reasons I do not enjoy being a guest teacher:

• Not considered “staff” at any school
• No insurance
• Do not have a consistent paycheck (different every month)
• I don’t have the opportunity to build relationships with the “sprouts” in the various gardens

This is just the first day in the garden, so I hope you will return to see how the garden is growing from time to time. Just as with a real garden…….you just never know what you will see sprouting from the ground!